New York Cops Nab 17, Bust Up Mob-Run Betting Ring Betting on Costa Rica Gambling Website
Two of New York's most feared organized crime families joined forces to run a multimillion-dollar illegal sports betting network out of three Queens bars and a gambling Web site in Costa Rica, authorities said yesterday.

U.S. prosecutors indicted 17 members and associates of the Bonanno and Genovese families who allegedly raked in $12.5 million in wages during the 15-month New York Police Department (NYPD) probe.

Bets were made on everything from horses to the World Series to this year's NCAA tournament.

Their network was based at Maspeth's The Clubhouse, Tee-Dee's Tavern in Ridgewood and the First German Sports Bar in Flushing where low-level runners fielded bets in person and by telephone, police said.

Runners took the cash to "wire rooms" in Middle Village, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and a Yonkers liquor store where organizers kept records and authorized debts and payouts, cops said.

In these wire rooms, clerks also accepted bets by phone.

To evade law enforcement and alleviate some risk, organizers set up numerous gambling accounts on the Costa Rica-based site Datawagers.com, formerly Databets.com, cops said. Both websites have disappeared.

These sites typically stored account information in Costa Rica and Curacao and bounce their data through a series of servers to elude police.